Budget: What we spend and how we spend it

The budget includes the allocation of financial resources to different services and projects, proposed provisions and reserves, the Council tax base, setting the Council tax and decisions relating to the Council’s borrowing requirement, the control of its capital expenditure and the setting of virement limits.

Budget Consultation

We have successfully achieved/identified over £9million in transformational savings since 2010/11 and now have a solid financial base in order to set our 2020/21 budget. A revised saving requirement has been calculated of a reduction from £1.130million to £0million in 2020/21; £1million in 2021/22 increasing to £1.850million in 2023/24.

The 2020/21 budget consultation period will take place between Monday 16th December 2019 and Monday 13th January 2020.

How are we going to save money?

We are committed to protecting front-line services, such as waste and street cleaning, and especially to our most vulnerable residents, but we have to take some tough decisions about our services and future spending.

We are determined to protect important services by doing things differently, such as:

• Working in partnership with other councils or organisations;
• Buying in services (where it makes good financial sense);
• Looking at transferring services to alternative providers and to community groups, if appropriate;
• Focusing on raising more income from our own assets; and
• Making our services even more efficient.

We welcome your views and suggestions as to how we can meet these financial challenges.

How can I have my say?

Let us know what you think of the proposals set out in the budget. This is set out in two documents available below:

Where do we get our money from?

We collect £7.476 million from Council Tax which is only 12% of the overall Council Tax bill you pay or, for 2019/20, £4.07 per household per week for a Band D property.

We collect the remainder of your Council Tax bill on behalf of Cumbria County Council (75%), Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (13%) and Parish Councils.

Where does my money go? 

Your £4.07 per household (Band D) per week is spent in the following areas:

A graphical view of our spending breakdown

You can contact us in the following ways, noting that the consultation for 2020/21 will end on 13th January 2020.

By post to: The Chief Executive, Civic Centre, Carlisle, CA3 8QG or by email to [email protected]by 9am on 13th January 2020.